Category: The Apostolic Church

If you have read my latest post on the state of our economy (Now and then 1929,2009, the coming depression, part XII) you would ask I’m sure, what hope is there if things are really that hopeless. If America found the perfect Congress and President to preside during these dark times, it would still take over 12 years for America to get on its feet and it would hurt. I have found over the years that when we trust God first and throw ourselves at his mercy that all things work out for the best; and that thinking applies to nations also. {II Chronicles 7:14…If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.} Just prior to his death Moses gave some last words of encouragement to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 31.6: “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee”. Though some could possibly make the argument that the scripture applies only to the Hebrews of the Old Testament; we are reminded in Hebrews 13.5: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have; for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” As we are faithful to seek first the kingdom of God, then He will be faithful to meet our every need

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, when the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile, but you, have to sigh, when care is pressing you down a bit, rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Hebrews 10:36 says,

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

God established the USA, God is still in the USA, and like or not, God is in control.

Though God gave all of us the moral freedom to choose between good and evil, to do good or bad and basically to determine many events in our lives; he did NOT give us the power to control or determine the final outcome of our actions. God is in control, did he not say of Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16,“And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up….”

Our daily lives are at the mercy of government and the political process. If I believe that God established our government and is involved in our daily lives; what am I saying? That God is political. What I am saying is that God established our Nation, our Government and allowed men to accept those positions of authority in government and that as long as those men honored human decency and accepted God, our Nation excelled; “for this cause have I raised thee” “….for to show in thee my power”. It is entirely up to us as how God will show his power. Consider this, take some time and Google disasters, floods, earthquakes, famine, etc for the last four years, why is it that the level of disaster and death toll in the Muslim world number between 2000 and 200,00 (remember the Tsunami) and in America we get excited if the death toll is over 200 hundred. God has for too long smiled upon our great nation; for us to now lie down and give it up to the hate filled, ungodly and satanic 16 per cent comprised of secular progressives, university professors, liberal activists, Hollywood and the ACLU.

It’s time we took our nation back, or God will take our nation and as with many times throughout the scriptures, the world will watch in astonishment at the fall of our Nation.

Why I believe GOD exists and is involved in our lives and in control of Nations, Governments and worldwide events.

God and the nation of Israel:

Today, the year 2008, and for some time now; one thing is present that beyond any reasonable doubt should prove that GOD is real. If you can’t bring yourself to admitting that GOD exists, for sure you will not be able to deny that what GOD has spoken shall come to be. The one thing above all other things that prove the existence of GOD is the nation of Israel. Israel celebrated their 60th anniversary this year. In 1948 Israel became a nation again after wandering without a homeland for approximately 1,960 years. Prior to these 1,960 years, for approximately 140 years they were captive in their home land and many of them carried away to the homeland of their captors under the Babylonian Empire and then roughly 200 years under the Persian Empire after Media and Persia conquered Babylon. During the wars between the Persian Empire and Greece Israel was under Greece control for 50 years after which time they were annexed to Egypt for approximately 120 years. After Egyptian rule they were under Syrian rule for about 30 years. All this activity takes place between 721 B.C. and 187 B.C. This captivity and wandering without a homeland or statehood is about 2,587 years and includes the years under Roman rule and afterwards until 1948. Now our Nation is just under 240 years old and yet it seems like we have been around forever, so 2,587 years is certainly a very long time. So, how long did Israel rule as a nation. From about one year after the Exodus out of Egypt until the captivity by Babylonis 769 years. These years would include the 40 years wandering in the wilderness with Moses and the many years of warring with the various tribes and nations as they establish their kingdom.

All figures and times used are approximations and may not completely be in agreement with historical data or time frames used by others. But, then, this is not a history lesson based on precise research but rather my emphasis on the fact that what GOD has spoken shall come to pass, we will see as we continue where many events “came to be” hundreds of years after they were spoken of and sometimes thousands of years. None-the-less, my figures and times are fairly accurate and supported by biblical studies.

Now; we know that present day Israel became a nation in 1948; but Israel of old, were they a nation for 769 years?Or did their status as a nation start with Saul, David, or Solomon, or possibly after their initial battles for the land of Canaan? Consider this, our nation is 237 years old, but that age will date us back to 1776. Was America born with the Declaration of Independence in 1776 or did we become a nation in 1607 with the establishment of Jamestown. How about 1492 with Columbus? This is just one of many elements used by GOD throughout the ages to ensure that in the end: “No man knoweth the hour”. The ungodly also use those things established by GOD; to deceive, turn truth into lies and steer as many as will listen, in the wrong direction. Consider this; for a couple of hundred years Egypt and many others from various modern nations have been unable to establish the reality of evidence to the Exodus. In the last few years we have learned that they were looking for evidence of the Exodus in and bout 1270 B.C. I believe the Exodus took place about 1490 B.C. Later in this writing we will see that the 400 years in Egypt and the Exodus was spoken of by the Word of GOD close to 1,500 years prior.

Again, my emphasis throughout this writing is two-fold, 1st– what GOD has spoken will come to pass, consider it done; and 2nd– that GOD is involved in our daily lives and in control of nations, kings and world events.

The event in present age 1948 that gave the Jews a homeland and established a nation that today we know as Israel was a political event that involved various nations, the U.N. and was years in the making. Political event was probably not what the Jews had prayed for nor what they expected as spoken of by the Prophets. Certainly their modern day spiritual leaders who were well versed in the Law of Moses and the words of the Prophets had prayed for and looked to Heaven for their GOD to come down and destroy the enemy and give them the victory.

During this period we read of God’s promises, promises first made to Abraham and promises through which the people of Israel were set free from bondage in Egypt. Genesis 22:17“that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies”. And in Galatians 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ”. We see here in these two scriptures that God pictured the seed of Abraham both as a heavenly people and an earthly people; the earthly people represented by the nation of Israel and the heavenly people (Galatians 3:16) represented by the church which came of Christ.

The close of this dispensation finds the people of Israel in bondage in Egypt. From Abraham to the end of bondage is approximately 600 years; of which 430 years was in bondage in Egypt. An interesting thought here is that Abraham did have the Law through which to reach out to God with; God reached out to Abraham.

This dispensation covers the period of time between the flood and building of the tower of Babel. Since the government was not directly controlled by any prophet, this period is called that of Human Government.

The judgment which fell on this dispensation was the confusion of tongues during the building of the Tower of Babel which caused the people to be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. Genesis 11:7-8 “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence, upon the face of the earth: and they left off to build the city”. Reading all of chapter eleven we see that the whole earth was of one language and one speech. One definition of language is “Native tongue”. These people not only wanted to build a tower and city that reached to heaven; they wanted to make a name for themselves. In chapter six; “and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they imagined to do”. Some thoughts to ponder here: (1)God also used the term “imagined”, though slightly different, I believe the same warning from God prevails; before the flood God spoke “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (2) Make a name for themselves; though this can mean many things, two very strong possibilities are “to become famous” or “to carry the name through an heir”. I believe the latter is true here; but surely the people had sons to carry on the name; so we must consider that making a name for themselves and building a tower to heaven must be of extreme “religious” practice and desires. These religious practices were obviously of an “occult” nature for God took action against the building of the “Tower Babel”.

This dispensation extended from the fall of man until the flood. Man now was possessed with a “conscience”, an instinctive knowledge of good and evil.

During this period the wickedness of man so increased upon the earth that GOD “repented that he made man” Genesis 5:32 “and Noah was five hundred years old; and begat Shem, Ham and Japheth”, Genesis 6:5-8 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repented me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”

The judgment ending this dispensation is the “Flood”. Some thoughts to consider; (1) the people of the earth probably had close to one hundred years from the time that Noah was advised of the coming judgment before it happened, (2) Lamech, Noah’s father was “777’ years when he died, just five years before the flood came, (3) This dispensation lasts 1526 years.

First Dispensation; Man’s Innocence:Genesis 2:25“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” They were not ashamed because their innocence was not only physical but spiritual; they no reason for shame because there was no sin. Sin brings shame, corruption, ungodliness, disobedience and evil.

This dispensation began at the creation of man and extended until the time that Adam and Eve yielded to the voice of the tempter and fell into sin. Genesis 3:6“And when the woman that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat”

During this time man was free from sin, not having even the knowledge of evil. This dispensation (as is true with each of the seven) ended in judgment. In this case it consisted of Adam and Eve’s being driven from the Garden of Eden. This judgment included the curse upon the ground of thorns and thistles, and the earning of bread by the sweat of the brow. You can continue this reading in Genesis 3:17-24. Deaths, heretofore unheard of, were passed upon all men.

I don’t know how much time there was between the creation of Adam and the birth of Cain and Abel; we do know however from the scriptures that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. Seth carries the birth right all the way to Noah. Since Adam and Eve had already being driven out of the Garden Eden when Seth was born we can safely assume that this first dispensation lasted less than 130 years when judgment came.

The importance of understanding dispensational truth is very important. Taking a scripture which belongs to one dispensation and applying it to another will lead to many false teachings. For instance, the literal keeping of the Sabbath and abstaining from certain meats were given to Israel in the dispensation of the LAW. They were never carried over into the dispensation of GRACE. In Galatians 3:24 “Wherefore the law our schoolmaster to bring us into Christ, that we might be justified by faith “3:25″ But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster”

I will be posting over the next few weeks some thoughts on the seven dispensations.

We would ask in all sincerity, what people belong to Israel, and what people belong to the church. We find that Israel is made up of the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, while the church is made up of the spiritual seed of Abraham through Christ. God speaking to Abraham some 1900 years before Christ had this to say in Gen 22:17: “that in blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea shore”. God pictured the seed of Abraham both as the sands of the sea (earthly people-Israel) and as the stars of heaven (heavenly people-Church). Paul confirms this in Romans 9:4-5: 4:“who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises” if these things belong to Israel, where does the church come in, does the church have the right to claim the promises and the glory of God? Paul continues in verse 5 “Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came”. And of course the church and Christianity came of Christ.

Just like all seed of Abraham is not Israel, nor are all Christians of Christ. Only that seed of Abraham that came from the promise, Isaac, is Israel and only those Christians that know who Christ is, are the Church.